Campaign Trail ‘n’ Errors (GOP Seven Dwarfs Edition)

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Early-cycle presidential candidates are like a box of chocolates: You make a little puncture to see what’s inside, then put them back.

Welcome to the 2012 Republican presidential primary field, which makes the legendary Democratic seven dwarfs (1988 version here, 2008 version here) look like Shaquille O’Neal.

Call the GOP Seven Dwarfs roll: Haley Barbour (R-Good Ol’ Boy), Rick Santorum (R-Please Don’t Google My Last Name), Tim Pawlenty (R-TPaw), Michele Bachmann (R-Mama Grizzly), Donald Trump (R-Trump This), Newt Gingrich (R-Hey! Here’s Another Idea!), Mitt Romney (R-We Don’t Need No Stinking Tie).

No wonder 65% of Republicans in this Fox News poll are “unimpressed” with the current GOP presidential field (via Talking Points Memo).

But wait! Here comes one more: Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

Gary Who?

Via ABC News’ The Note:

With many potential GOP candidates taking pains to keep themselves out of the presidential race — at least for now — here’s one who’s all in: former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

Skipping the presidential exploratory phase, Johnson announced in New Hampshire on Thursday that was launching a long-shot White House bid because, as he put it, the country is “a mess.”

“Today’s mess didn’t just happen,” Johnson said. “We elected it — one senator, member of Congress and president at a time. Our leaders in Washington, DC, have ‘led’ America to record unemployment, a devalued currency, banking scandals, the mortgage crisis, drug crisis, economic crisis, loss of our nation’s industrial might — and a long list of other reminders our nation is way off course.”

Looks like the GOP hopefuls are even more off course.

All due respect, of course.

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Mitt Romney Is A Social (Media) Animal

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Interesting piece in Wednesday’s New York Times about the major political parties’ “[using] social media and other online tools to galvanize supporters.”

Nut graf:

During last year’s midterm elections, Republicans caught up with Democrats in using technology and social networks, and now many Republicans elected to the House and Senate are using these tools more than Democrats, according to several political and technology experts.

“This will be the first election in modern history that both parties are understanding the potential of the technology to change the results of the election,” said Andrew Rasiej, a co-founder of TechPresident.com, a blog that covers politics and technology, and a digital adviser to Democrats since Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in 2004. “Both Republicans and Democrats are ready to use online platforms and are no longer skeptical of its potential.”

Exhibit A:

Sarah Palin, who started a brand-new Web site Tuesday with features that allow supporters to easily donate to her political action committee, has long had an established and robust presence on Twitter and Facebook, where she has almost 2.9 million fans.

Sample content of Palin’s brand-new website:

Governor Palin’s Appearance on “Hannity” on April 19, 2011

Video and Transcript of the Tax Day Tea Party Speech in Madison, Wisconsin

(But enough about me. What do you think of me?)

Exhibit B:

Mitt Romney announced his exploratory committee last week with a video, an update on his Facebook page, which has almost 845,000 members, a Twitter post introducing the hashtag #mitt2012, and a new Web site.

All of which are as about as exciting as you’d expect.

Your underwhelm goes here.

(P.S. Not a great photo, Mitt.)

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Taco Bell: Think Outside The Bum

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

From Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal:

Taco Bell Plans Spin as Critic Drops Beef

Taco Bell said the law firm that had filed suit against the Mexican fast-food chain, alleging its ground beef contained little beef, has withdrawn the litigation.

Beasley Allen, an Alabama law firm, voluntarily withdrew its lawsuit with no money or other value being exchanged between the parties, Taco Bell said. The chain, which is a unit of Yum Brands Inc., also said it isn’t making any changes to its products or advertising.

Except, of course, for this ad:

At least we know it won’t kill you to eat at Taco Bell.

New slogan: Now 100% Human-Flesh Free!

Bone appetit.

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Conservative Group Rips Off Bill Clinton

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

An outfit called National Exchange Club is currently running a TV spot (sorry, can’t find a link) that says: There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.

That, of course, is a quote from Bill Clinton’s first Inaugural Address. But the spot doesn’t credit Clinton.

Maybe that’s because there’s nothing wrong with front groups that cannot be cured by a little larceny.

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Was Rolling Stone’s Exposé McChrystal-Clear?

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Last year’s Rolling Stone takedown of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has now been called into question by a Pentagon inquiry.

From Tuesday’s New York Times:

Pentagon Inquiry Into Article Clears McChrystal and Aides

An inquiry by the Defense Department inspector general into a magazine profile that resulted in the abrupt, forced retirement of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has found no proof of wrongdoing by the general, his military aides and his civilian advisers.

Pentagon investigators said they were unable to confirm the events as reported in the June 2010 article in Rolling Stone, and found the evidence “insufficient” to demonstrate a violation of Defense Department standards.

Too bad McChrystal’s already resigned, eh?

Rolling Stone, for its part, stood by the accuracy of its story.

In a statement later Monday on its Web site, Rolling Stone questioned the methods of the Pentagon inspectors, who interviewed 15 people but not General McChrystal or Mr. Hastings.

“The report by the Pentagon’s inspector general offers no credible source — or indeed, any named source — contradicting the facts as reported in our story, ‘The Runaway General,’ ”the Rolling Stone statement said. “Much of the report, in fact, confirms our reporting, noting only that the Pentagon was unable to find witnesses ‘who acknowledged making or hearing the comments as reported.’ This is not surprising, given that the civilian and military advisers questioned by the Pentagon knew that their careers were on the line if they admitted to making such comments.”

Beyond that, a Rolling Stone spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that McChrystal and the Pentagon didn’t have a leg to stand on:

Mark Neschis, a spokesman for Rolling Stone, noted that Gen. McChrystal himself apologized after the article came out. Mr. Neschis suggested that military and civilian officials interviewed by the inspector general knew they would risk their careers if they owned up to making the anonymous comments.

“Asking unnamed sources to reveal their identities strikes us as an exercise in futility,” Mr. Neschis said in a statement.

Actually, this whole story strikes the hardworking staff as an exercise in futility, a.k.a. your tax dollars at work.

What say you, splendid readers?

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A Tarantella, Smee

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Congratulations to Boston Globe art critic Sebastian Smee, who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Via the proud parent:

Globe art critic Sebastian Smee wins Pulitzer

Sebastian Smee, art critic of The Boston Globe, today was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

The award represents the third time in the past decade that a Globe critic has been singled out for the prestigious honor. Arts writer and photography critic Mark Feeney won the prize three years ago, and former chief book critic Gail Caldwell won in 2001.

A 38-year-old native of Australia who now lives in Somerville, Smee came to the Globe in 2008 after four years as the national art critic for The Australian, a Sydney-based newspaper. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer two years ago.

Everybody, dance.

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C.J. Chivers, As In Shivers (Libya Edition II)

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Yet another riveting dispatch from New York Times correspondent C.J. Chivers, this time about life (and death) in a medical tent in Libya:

In the battle for Misurata, a rebel holdout city under attack by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces for months, the tally of those killed and wounded rises daily, and often by the hour. It can be only partially assessed at one of the several treatment centers scattered around the rebel-controlled portions of the city. But where it is counted, it is grim.

The wounded arrive at this triage tent throughout the day and sometimes deep into the night, a population formed by circumstance and number into a procession of wartime trauma.

A procession of wartime trauma: The perfect description of Chivers’ reporting.

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Wolff In Sheep’s Clothing: New Adweek=Badweek?

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

From Monday’s Wall Street Journal:

Three prominent media trade magazines become one this week with the relaunch of Adweek, which will fold Mediaweek and Brandweek into a single weekly publication under new editor Michael Wolff.

The new Adweek reflects a cosmetic and tonal makeover, pairing heavier paper and bolder graphics with a focus on being more provocative.

Paging Mr. Wolff, who just might be the most disliked figure in American media, which of course he loves.

In the first issue, Mr. Wolff opens with a letter to readers describing Adweek as “not your father’s trade magazine.” The first issue has a column dissecting Arianna Huffington’s sex appeal and a cutting profile of “grumpy” venture capitalist Fred Wilson. “We need to be more Tolstoy than trade reporter,” Mr. Wolff writes.

Your War and Peace punchline goes here.

Meanwhile, there’s this:

Some media and advertising-industry executives questioned whether by trying to expand the audience with a buzzier, more accessible publication, Adweek risks becoming less valuable to its base. They also say it is difficult to sell a traditionally business-to-business publication to mass advertisers because trade magazines don’t have nearly the scale those advertisers are looking for.

Wolff, on the other hand, is just looking for attention.

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C.J. Chivers, As In Shivers (Libya Edition)

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

The hardworking staff is a longtime admirer of New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers, and his report in Sunday’s Times just reinforces that.

Lede:

MISURATA, Libya — Muftah Militan, a rebel with his wounded right arm in a sling and a two-way radio in his left hand, peered from a rooftop at a low-slung skyline. Occasional gunfire chattered below.

To the right, several blocks away, the bright green flag of the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi fluttered above a building that had been cracked and scarred by fighting. This was a headquarters of the pro-Qaddafi forces besieging this city.

To the left, another tall building, also pockmarked by fire, rose above the neighborhood. “Snipers are there,” Mr. Militan said, unwilling to venture into the open.

Between these buildings runs a long and shattered stretch of Tripoli Street, formerly one of Misurata’s main thoroughfares, now one of its main battlegrounds. The street and the adjacent blocks are a ribbon-shaped wasteland of scattered debris, shattered facades and bloodstains.

Read the rest. Honest.

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Stories The Hardworking Staff Is Not On This Earth Long Enough To Read (Boston Globe Ideas Edition)

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

From Sunday’s Boston Globe:

Honestly? Don’t care.

Just keep it comin’.

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